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Mortality rates for very low birth weight babies in NICUs of hospitals that have achieved recognition for nursing excellence were slightly lower than for those in hospitals without the designation, University of Pennsylvania researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study included 558 hospitals in the Vermont Oxford Network, and the recognized facilities also had lower rates of nosocomial infection and severe intraventricular hemorrhage.

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Media coverage of nosocomial infection outbreaks at three NICUs in Germany may be linked to increased use of antibiotics in the NICUs, researchers reported in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. Data showed third-line antibiotic use in very low birth-weight infants increased from 19.4% to 22.5% after media coverage of the NICU outbreaks, and researchers said the increase was not explained by epidemiological evidence.

Florida data show a 500% increase in the past five years in the number of babies born with neonatal withdrawal syndrome. The state created a special task force on prescription drug abuse and newborns to examine the problem and recommend solutions.

Neonatal sepsis occurred in 2.6% of pregnant women whose labor was induced after their water broke in the late preterm period, compared with 4.1% of those whose condition was monitored to see if labor began naturally, according to research from Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands. The difference was not considered significant, and the study team wrote in PLoS Medicine that inducing labor does not substantially improve outcomes.

Western Ohio hospitals are adding NICU beds and services, and the competition for patients has led to concerns about duplication, quality and costs. Kettering Medical Center spokeswoman Elizabeth Long said the hospital wants to give mothers alternatives for high-risk deliveries, but Miami Valley Hospital medical director Dr. Marc Belcastro said studies show NICUs that care for fewer patients have higher mortality rates.

Access to the primary care features that characterize the medical home model significantly reduced patients' risk of dying over a six-year period, according to a study in the Annals of Family Medicine. The findings, based on the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2000-2005, support previous studies that linked geographic areas with lower mortality rates to a higher number of primary care providers.